Hood Ornaments

The first day of any school year was always nerve racking. The first day of class at college was doubly so. The first day of class at a new college in a strange city where you have only met two people--was creepy. Tori did what she could to make it through. Before she left home she printed out the map of the campus, circled the buildings where her classes were along with the times and room numbers.

For the most part, she thought she was going to be okay. She even figured out where the student center was and realized there was a Starbucks inside. That pretty much made her day. Well that and the cafeteria had turkey bacon. So armed with her breakfast sandwich and her venti, nonfat, no whip, white mocha, she walked to the building where her English class was supposed to be. After entering the building, she found the room was a huge lecture hall filled with students. The first five rows were completely empty, so Tori decided to sit up front. As she was waiting for the professor to show up, she opened her container and began eating. There were slight snickers from the class, but she didn’t care; she was hungry. She took a big bite of her bagel and winced to herself as she felt someone’s presence sit in the seat next to her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw it, the big afro. She tried to swallow her food but her throat was dry, so she took a gulp of her coffee, which was hot. All the while, Michael stared at her amused and smiling, it was at that time Tori realized that his smile was beautiful and wider than the Cheshire cat. She managed to wave at him while she patted her chest to assist her swallowing along.

“Well good morning, Michael chuckled.”

Tori smiled, “Good morning to you as well.”

“You have class after this?”

Tori nodded.

“Well I’ma get something to eat off the truck after this, so you want a tour of the campus before I do.”

“That would be cool.”

“Good, I’m glad this class is only fifty minutes.” Michael said flipping through the large text book.

“You don’t like English?”

“Nah I do, but not the one hundred level courses, I am more into the poets cuz I write a little bit.

“You paint and you write? Hmmm, quite the Renaissance man.”

“I never looked at it that way.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the professor walking into the auditorium. The first thing he did was notice Tori and Michael sitting in the front.

“Your name?” He said pointing to Tori.

“Victoria…” She replied as if she were unsure.

“I’m better with last names.”

“Watts.”

“Fantastic Ms. Watts. Are you a writer?”

Tori shook her head no.

“That’s unusual. Most people who sit in the front are writers.”

The professor went on to have everyone sign an attendance sheet, passed out syllabi, and then went right into the lecture. Tori was scribbling furiously to make sure she got all of the notes or at least the key words. Halfway through the lecture she put down the pen. This professor was so interesting and captivating, she felt as though she would remember everything he said.

The professor dismissed the class and Tori actually let out a sigh of disappointment making him smile and the class snicker.

Michael stood up and grabbed his book bag while handing Tori hers, “Let’s go out the back door before the class decides to stone the professor’s pet.”

“Whatever, he barely spoke to me,” Tori said playfully.

“True, but you will learn to cherish the times professors dismiss class early. Especially as an artist. You ready for your tour?”

Tori nodded and, they made their way out of the building. When Michael pushed open the heavy metal door, the world literally transformed. Tori saw a harvest rainbow in the autumn foliage and gasped. That made Michael smile while guiding her through the relatively small campus grounds. He showed her the fine arts building then led her to the side wall which had an exquisite mural of a couple caressing one another in front of the Chicago skyline at dusk. The colors in the mural almost rivaled the foliage of campus

“Wow, I have seen murals before, but this is gorgeous.” Tori said as she admiringly touched the brick. “It must have taken forever to do. The ones back home are pretty, but sometimes I can still see the graffiti underneath.”

“That’s because they didn’t cover it up first,” Michael explained. Typically I will use the color similar to bricks in the wall, so the piece looks natural. This one because of the colors I used were bright, I just painted it black.”

“Wait, you did this?” Tori asked still taking in the mural.”

Michael humbly nodded and said, “C’mon let’s go to the lunch truck, I’m starving.”

It was a typical lunch truck, but there were a few of things that were different about it. One of which was the huge line that literally went down the block with people waiting. The other was the man at the back of the truck pouring water over his slightly soapy hands. The clanging of spatulas on the grill was almost as musical as mealtime in the Watt’s kitchen, and that made Tori smile fondly. Michael approached the man who was washing his hands and patted him on the shoulder.

“Aye D, how’s it goin man?”

D had a dark complexion with a full, dark, beard, twinkling eyes and bright smile. “Mike!!! Good morning man. How u?”

“I’m good man Seems like you got a bit of a rush today?”

“Who you tellin. I had to call one of my youngins out here to help me with the grill. It’s been mad busy.”

“Aiight, I’ma come back later then,” Michael said as he began to walk away.

“Nah, nah, I made your sandwich and have it in a bag all ready to go.” D said climbing into the back of the truck.

“For real?”

“Man, c’mon you here every day.” I even had hash browns, so I stuck a couple in there for you.”

“See?” Michael said nudging Tori. “ The cafeteria would never do that. D is good people. D this is Victoria. Victoria this is D. Get to know him. He makes the best hot sausage egg and cheese sandwiches within a ten block radius.”

“Hey Mami,” D said smiling.”

“Hi D.”

Typically Tori had an issue with strangers callin her “Mami” “Ma” “Babe” or “Boo”. It annoyed her. Made her feel generic. But there was something warm about D’s eyes, and she took it as a compliment.

D and Michael shook hands and then Michael took Tori by the hand and walked her back to campus. The current of warmth that went through Tori’s body was unexplainable, yet comfortable. They walked to the picnic benches in the courtyard and sat down. Michael unwrapped his sandwich, broke up a hash brown and poked it between the roll. He then pushed the tinfoil over to Tori and said, “Taste it.”

Tori wrinkled her nose, “It’s sausage.”

“Beef sausage.”

Tori skeptically picked the sandwich up and took a bite. Her eyes rolled back into her head, “Spicy. But good.”

From then on things became routine, but it was a good routine. Breakfast, coffee, classes, painting, studying, touching base with Trudy, texting the crew, hanging out with Michael, getting to know other artists, seeing Chicago…repeat.

The irony in all of that was the fact that even though the school was an art school, the other students would ostracize Tori for being too artsy. Especially the females. They would mock her because she found it easier to wrap her hair rather than trying to straighten it before class. They would point and giggle at her paint splattered clothes. There were times she would hear females whisper about her and Michael, calling them Oreos. It would upset Tori, but Michael would just laugh it off.

“You have to consider the source, Victoria,” he said as they were headed to the lunch truck.

“What do you mean?” Tori asked.

“Well most of the females that say these things about you, or us rather, are from the ghetto, hood trash so to speak. They are only attending this school to fill a quota. Bottom line is they won’t make it through to the next semester.”

Michael’s words knocked the wind out of Tori for many reasons. First and foremost the words were racist. Now true, Tori typically didn’t get along with females, but she always believed it was just a female thing not a class thing and definitely not a race thing. Secondly, if that is what Michael truly thought about their people, what did he really think about her? Tori felt a rage inside her she couldn’t explain. The closer they got to the lunch truck the more the aromas emanating from it turned her stomach. She abruptly stopped.

“You know what?”

Michael looked at her quizzically.

“I’m going to the cafeteria today. I have some reading I need to catch up on.”

Michael’s quizzical expression did not change, “Okay? Will I see you later?”

“At the studio probably yeah,” Tori muttered quickly as she hurriedly walked towards the recreation center. She bought her bagel sandwich and coffee and searched for an empty table. There weren’t any. Off in the distance she saw Ladee and decided to join her.

“Hey Ladee,” Tori said while pulling out a chair, “Can I sit here?” She sat down without waiting for a response. Ladee looked up at her with concerned confusion.

“You okay? Victoria?”

“I dunno. You’ve known Michael a long time right?”

Ladee raised an eyebrow, “Yeah did you guys have a fight already?”

Tori realized how erratic she must have appeared and attempted to put Ladee at ease, “No no, nothing like that. He just said some really awkward things to me about the females here on campus and it made me feel funny.”

“Ah,” Ladee said pointing to Tori with her spoon, “The generalization about black women on this campus?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Mmmm, well it used to happen every semester in high school. It happened last semester here. Michael is just different…odd…radiant.”

Tori looked at Ladee skeptically, “Radiant?”

Ladee laughed, “Yeah I call him Baby Basquiat.”

Tori gasped through a chuckle of her own, “But as much as I love Basquiat’s work wasn’t he a drug addicted sex fiend?”

“So the films and books portray him, but I believe he was a pure artist. He lived and loved that way.”

“And you think Michael is that way?” Tori asked.

“Possibly, but I believe he is more misunderstood than anything. But he likes you. If he didn’t he wouldn’t bother with you at all.” With that Ladee got up, “I gotta go to class. Wanna hang out later?”

Tori smiled, “Sure, I gotta go too. So I’ll see you in the dorm.”

Tori walked away feeling relieved. She didn’t quite know why she was feeling uneasy in the first place. Never once in her life did she ever feel she wasn’t good enough. This feeling was foreign to her.

So was being at school.

So was Michael. As soon as she felt acclimated, it seemed like cold front blew in.

So Tori was going to chase after the sunshine.